I love this place!

Entrants ranked on history in the event. The value reflects the player’s success and number of years competed within the last eight years, weighted in favor of more recent seasons. A value of 1.000 would mean the player appeared every year and won every time. A value of about .715 puts the player in the top 1 percent of all players who have played the event at least once in the last eight seasons, a value of .335 puts a player in the top 10 percent.

Player	History
Webb Simpson	0.802
Matt Kuchar	0.720
Ian Poulter	0.649
Matthew Fitzpatrick	0.595
Dustin Johnson	0.576
Brian Harman	0.526
Daniel Berger	0.500
Michael Thompson	0.485

---

Top of the heap

The top eight players (per the Hawley Ratings) among this event’s entries.

Player	Rank	Rating
Justin Thomas	2	1391.8
Cameron Smith	3	1329.7
Dustin Johnson	5	1284.6
Patrick Cantlay	6	1213.7
Collin Morikawa	9	1168.6
Daniel Berger	11	1109.2
Corey Conners	14	981.6
Matthew Fitzpatrick	15	977.1

---

Sorry, can’t make it

The top four players (per the Hawley Ratings) who are not playing this event.

Player	Rank	Rating
Jon Rahm	1	1507.1
Scottie Scheffler	4	1325.3
Viktor Hovland	7	1211.6
Rory McIlroy	8	1204.0

---

Ooh, that’s hot

Players are ranked by performance in their last four appearances in comparison with their current Hawley Rating.

Player	Upward change
Adam Hadwin	1633.3
Shane Lowry	1478.4
Kevin Kisner	1310.0
Dustin Johnson	1247.0
Corey Conners	1241.7
Cameron Smith	1240.9
Beau Hossler	1088.3
Alex Noren	1041.3

---

Brr, that’s cold

Players are ranked by performance in their last four appearances in comparison with their current Hawley Rating.

Player	Downward change
Cameron Tringale	-643.4
Patrick Cantlay	-578.5
Jordan Spieth	-505.9
Charley Hoffman	-499.9
Webb Simpson	-472.3
Lanto Griffin	-453.3
Taylor Moore	-415.8
Lee Hodges	-359.7

---

Certain skills required

Among a set of 10 PGA Tour and DP World Tour statistics that reflect physical characteristics of the course, this table shows the four that have the highest unique correlation with player performance. Events on this course within the last eight years are considered, and the minimum is 80 player appearances. In mathematical terms, the number shown is the partial correlation coefficient.

Stat value	Statistic
0.31	Shots gained off the tee
0.20	Driving accuracy
0.14	Sand saves
0.14	Shots gained around the green

---

Location, location, location

Event entrants ranked by predicted score per 18 holes based solely on “course fit” — i.e. based on the player’s current percentile standing in each of the four statistics shown above.

Course fit	Player
Sungjae Im	69.98
Patrick Cantlay	70.05
Hayden Buckley	70.06
Collin Morikawa	70.18
Matthew Fitzpatrick	70.19
Christiaan Bezuidenhout	70.20
Corey Conners	70.21
Takumi Kanaya	70.32

---

Anyplace but here

Event entrants ranked by worst predicted score per 18 holes based solely on “course fit” — i.e. the player’s current percentile standing in each of the four statistics shown above.

Course fit	Player
Jimmy Walker	72.7
Stephan Jaeger	72.6
Martin Trainer	72.6
Wesley Bryan	72.6
Luke Donald	72.5
Nick Watney	72.5
Sung Kang	72.2
Brian Gay	72.1

---

Staying close to home

Exempt entrants ranked by miles between their listed residence as of January 2022 and the event venue.

Player	Residence	Distance
Russell Henley	Kiawah Island SC	49
Hudson Swafford	St. Simons Island GA	75
Brian Harman	St. Simons Island GA	75
Zach Johnson	St. Simons Island GA	75
JT Poston	St. Simons Island GA	75
Davis Love	St. Simons Island GA	75
Matt Kuchar	St. Simons Island GA	75
Matthew NeSmith	Aiken SC	100
Kevin Kisner	Aiken SC	100

---

Mathematically speaking

The following table shows the correlations between player ranking in the above tables and their actual finish positions. In other words, to what extent does the ordering of players in the table correspond to the order of finish.

Statistic	Correlation to results
Top of the heap	0.251
Ooh, that’s hot	0.183
I love this place	0.161
Location, location, location	0.139